1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid tank holding mechanism detachably mounted on a liquid ejection apparatus and adapted to contain and hold a liquid such as ink.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid ejection apparatus supplies a liquid to a print head by installing a liquid tank directly on the print head or mounting the liquid tank on a liquid tank mount connected to the print head through a tube or the like. As a mechanism for holding a liquid tank at a predetermined position, a configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-110577 is known. In this configuration, the liquid tank biased in a detaching direction by a first spring when mounted is held at a predetermined position by a lever provided on a holder. More specifically, the lever provided on the holder is equipped with a lock protruding toward the liquid tank and configured to be able to pivot on an axis orthogonal to a disengaging direction of the liquid tank, with the lock being biased toward the liquid tank by a second spring. When the liquid tank is mounted, the lock is engaged with part of the liquid tank, thereby holding the liquid tank in a predetermined location. In disengaging the liquid tank, the engagement between the lock and liquid tank is released by application of a force acting against biasing toward the lock, thereby disengaging the liquid tank by biasing in the disengaging direction.
To implement a lever mechanism such as described above using an easy-to-assemble configuration, it is conceivable to configure part of a bearing portion of a cover surrounding a pivot shaft of the lever to be movable in a plane orthogonal to the pivot shaft. More specifically, the bearing portion is divided into two parts and the bearing portion itself or a root of the bearing portion is made flexible and movable in either or both of the two parts. With such a configuration, during assembly of the lever, the bearing portion moves to allow the pivot shaft of the lever to be assembled, and after the assembly, the bearing portion becomes able to hold the pivot shaft of the lever by returning to such a position as to surround the lever shaft.
However, in a configuration in which part of the bearing portion is movable, when an inertial force in the disengaging direction is produced on the liquid tank due to a drop or other shock, a force tending to disengage the liquid tank acts on the lock of the lever, and consequently there is a fear that the lever shaft may come off the bearing portion. When the lever comes off the bearing portion, due to the inertial force produced on the liquid tank and the biasing in the disengaging direction the liquid tank will come off the cover.